I have a friend that (figuratively) beats his chest and yells, “Look at me! look at me! I am awesome!!”
I have a friend that quietly serves others. He shows kindness, care, and concern and has a heart of gold.
I was at a party recently and saw both of these guys together. They share the same body. They have the same name!
We all know people like this right? Of course, we do because we ARE people like this. To varying degrees, we all behave in ways that stroke our ego and behave in ways that serve others and give kindness.
It’s okay.
Things we say and do come from one of two places. I think of them as buckets inside of my being. Before you say or do anything, you pull it from one of two buckets.
When we choose from bucket #1 Ego, we are building or protecting what is called “The Story of Me“. The Story of Me goes something like this: My name is Mike Cooligan. I am an accountant and I have a wife and three kids. I am smart. In fact, I am an amazing chess player. I was once considered very attractive and had many girlfriends. I have a lot of money, probably more than you actually. I am quite good at playing the stock market. I am respected by my peers. I am a great father. So good, in fact, that my oldest kid just got a 45 on his SAT. Yep, that’s right. My other kid learned to fly. We haven’t really told anyone yet, but it’s true. On and on and on.
We all have a story. We all build and protect our story. We all grab from bucket #1 Ego.
When we choose from bucket #2 Love, we forget that we even have The Story of Me. Our focus is solely on giving, serving and impacting others.
Think about what actually comes from each bucket. If you could see their contents it might look something like this:
So as you speak today, consider your bucket choices. The goal isn’t to pull from only one bucket, but instead to have bucket awareness. Of course, you should try to feed your soul (from the Love bucket) more than you feed your ego. But, everybody has their own %. Maybe you currently live at 50% ego and 50% love. If so, then today you can try to get to 40%/60%. The more you live from love instead of ego, the happier you will be. I promise.
Also today when you hear others speak and they are feeding their ego, judge a little less. Understand that this is just what people do. People love to create and protect The Story of Me. Let them have it. Understand it. Return their ego with love. And get on with the rest of your day!
Love and Let 